Eve's Bayou. - movie reviews

Perhaps it was a touch of Southern mysticism that made African-American actress-turned-filmmaker Kasi Lemmons base her first script, written in 1992, on a poignant piece of Louisiana's history. Before production began on her film about the fictional Batiste family, she was surprised to learn that in the 18th century a French planter in Louisiana had willed his land to his Creole lover, a slave who had borne him 10 children. A similar situation is the basis of the Batiste family history.

Co-produced by Samuel L. Jackson (who also stars in the film), with music by jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard, Eve's Bayou (Trimark, October 1997) takes place deep in a Louisiana bayou of the 1960s. Over the course of a summer, it explores the hopes, dreams and secrets of the Batiste family. "I wanted to take this very intimate, human drama and set it against the magical folklore of Louisiana," Lemmons says. Matching the languid pace of Charles Burnett's eerie To Sleep With Anger, the film's lush cinematography creates a dreamlike world as ethereal as the scent of magnolia.

When young Eve learns that her father may not be the man whom she once idolized, she consults the local conjure woman, whose "spell" sets in motion a series of events that lead to tragedy. While essentially a family drama, Eve's Bayou explores much darker issues, which propel the film's story line. "It is about both the madness and the love that operates in every family, about the secrets that play out between brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, daughters, aunts and uncles," says Diahann Carroll, who plays the conjure woman.

Eve's Bayou is very personal to St. Louis native Lemmons, who starred in Silence of the Lambs, Fear of a Black Hat and Drop Squad. It brings to life events from her childhood. "While I didn't grow up in Louisiana," she explains, "I spent many a summer visiting my grandparents in Alabama. That's where I learned about the ways of the South."

Lemmons also consulted experts in Creole culture and relied on the knowledge of cast members who were reared in the area. Lynn Whitfield (Eve's mother) was born in Baton Rouge, and Branford Marsalis (one of Eve's aunt's three husbands) is from New Orleans.

A generation of films, from The Emperor Jones to Daughters of the Dust, have drawn their themes from the spiritual traditions of the South. What does that portend for Eve's Bayou? Lemmons believes that the low-budget feature will succeed, using a unique marketing strategy. Following its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in September, Eve's Bayou will show at art houses in addition to regular movie theaters, an approach uncommon to black films. "Hopefully, through word of mouth it will attract an audience and grow across the country," says Lemmons. "Black people say they want to see something different. This is something different, the type of film I would be looking for."

Ann Brown, a freelance writer in Los Angeles, is a regular contributor to Black Enterprise.

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